Cruz in playoffs following suspension

Texas Rangers' Nelson Cruz takes batting practice with the team before a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Monday, Sept. 30, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. Cruz was activated on Monday and is scheduled to play in game 163, an American League wild-card tiebreaker game. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
— AP

Texas Rangers' Nelson Cruz takes batting practice with the team before a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Monday, Sept. 30, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. Cruz was activated on Monday and is scheduled to play in game 163, an American League wild-card tiebreaker game. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
/ AP

Nelson Cruz was reinstated from the restricted list Monday. Just in time for the Texas Rangers to insert him into their lineup for tonight's wild-card tiebreaker game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Cruz will DH and bat sixth. He just served a 50-game suspension for violating the terms of MLB's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

Unlike the Padres' Everth Cabrera, who served a similar suspension and returned to an empty Petco Park clubhouse Monday to begin his offseason workouts, Cruz is still playing. In the Rangers' most important game of the year, no less.

Detroit's Jhonny Peralta, who recently completed his own 50-game suspension, will also be playing in the postseason.

Such cases raise this question: Is it fair for suspended players like Cruz and Peralta to hop straight from a suspension to the heat of a playoff game?

Both players were suspended in connection with one of the biggest PED scandals in modern sports history. Both now provide considerable boosts for their respective teams.

You could argue that they already served their time, their missteps affecting their teams over the course of 50 regular-season games, games that were vital to making the playoffs.

But there's still something a bit unsavory about all this. If a player is suspended for the rest of the regular season, why not make him sit out any postseason as well?